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Andrew Szymanski
Andrew Szymanski is a video game producer, director and translator working in Japan. A former member of Tecmo's Team Ninja and Capcom, Szymanski served as the lead senior producer in the 2014 Strider, a project he spearheaded since the beginning as a personal fan of the franchise/character.Spencer (July 26, 2013). "Strider Starts Out With All Of His Core Abilities And Has Touches For MvC Fans". siliconera.com. Accessed November 22, 2019 Early Life Andrew Szymanski moved to Tokyo and attended Sophia University. He started working in the video game industry after graduating college.Ashcraft, Brian (July 13, 2008). "The Meaning of Ninjy" (English). kotaku.com. Accessed November 22, 2019 Career Tecmo Szymanski secured a position working for Tecmo as Project Director and Localization Project Manager in 2003. He assisted the gameplay design for Ninja Gaiden II, Ninja Gaiden Sigma and Ninja Gaiden Black, as well as assisting in the development of Dead or Alive Extreme 2 and Dead or Alive 4. He also worked on translation work and script-writing for Ninja Gaiden II, Sigma and Dead or Alive Extreme 2 together with localization company AltJapan. He worked at Tecmo for roughly 5 years, leaving the company in September 2007. Following a short stint as external producer in the intervening years, he then joined Capcom around 2009.Various (February 22, 2014). Strider Hiryû Sound Chronicle. CD. Capcom, CAPE-1402SH-1/2/3. Liner Notes, pg. 6-7. Capcom He took over as lead producer for Lost Planet 3 in 2010, seeing its development until release. The decision to take the series into a more focused, story-driven narrative was taken between Szymanski and series creative director Kenji Oguro, who considered the previous entry a great party shooter, but that it lacked grounding in the characters and world and the player never got to know or emphathize with the "faceless" characters. This personal preference led to the strong narrative in the campaign and a strong main character the player could feel forHaley, Sebastian (April 25, 2013). Lost Planet 3 is repositioning the franchise for mainstream success (interview). Venturebeat.com. Accessed November 22, 2019. Szymanski was also the one who chose Spark Unlimited as the developer. Although initially skeptical about them due to their less-than-stellar record, Szymanski was convinced after visiting their offices and seeing their drive, creativity and desire to learn from the past and move forward. Szymanski started working on Strider while in the middle of developing Lost Planet 3, as one of many pet projects he wanted to get off the ground. He noted his desire to bring one of Capcom's old works into the next-generation and to "bring back some of the Capcom feel in terms of doing side-scrollers", mentioning many digital side-scrollers which combine modern graphical techniques with old-school gameplay styles, and envisioned the Strider concept as "marrying the fast-paced old-school gameplay, the jumping, the acrobatics, the Cypher, with a more of a non-linear map design". Inspired by Shadow Complex, Szymanski wanted to maintain the "golden ratio" between combat, speed and exploration, as no other game in the genre moves as fast as Hiryu. As before, Szymanski was also the one who selected Double Helix Games for the job, citing their passion for the IP as well as their expertise and engine tech to bring the concepts from Capcom's Osaka studio into a multi-platform 2.5D polygon world. He was also impressed by the pitch they provided when asked if they wanted to work on Strider, displaying a great level of research and passion for the project.Spencer (July 30, 2013). "Why Double Helix Was Picked For Strider And About The PS4/Xbox One Versions". siliconera.com. Accessed November 22, 2019 Szymanski would spent the latter half of development promoting the game in Japan, attending conventions and special events, conducting interviews and starring in a series of video blogs titled Andrew-P's Road to Special-A Class Strider! ( )Staff (February 21, 2014). (Official Blog) Andrew-P's Road to Special-A Class Strider! (Japanese). Strider official site. Accessed November 22, 2019. In several of these instances he can be seen wearing a red scarf like Hiryu. He left Capcom a few months after the release of Strider in July 2014 and went to DeNA. During his time there Szymanski created the initial concept brief and carried out management of World of Demons, a hack-n-slash samurai-themed game created in cooperation with PlatinumGames. Planned for release in the summer of 2018, the game was seemingly and silently cancelled after a brief soft launch exclusively in the Philippines, Singapore and Malaysia.Pelliccio, Meg (June 8, 2019). "Where in the World is World of Demons?". oldgameplus.co.uk. Accessed November 25, 2019 He's currently serving as President and Representative Director for The Irregular Corporation. Gameography References Category:Creators